


before the world catches up

by naturalbrew



Category: Bandom, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco
Genre: High School AU, M/M, Ryden, as this IS a ryden central fic, i didnt spell succession right, i keep almost making them say yall and then remember that they probably dont say the word yall., idk how often ill update, if it slips up im sorry, im tryin, my local radio station does the free concert things and its ballin, shrug emoji, sorry this took so long, the peterick is lowkey and more of a side thing ya know, this is my first fic!!! be nice plz, we r getting there fam
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-14
Updated: 2015-10-12
Packaged: 2018-04-14 18:12:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4574712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naturalbrew/pseuds/naturalbrew
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>High school was going great, peachy keen. I was a lowkey queer who didn't get beat up, I had close friends I could jam with, and I was making all A's and a few high B's. Everything was great. Until Pompadour Boy.</p>
<p>Ryden, High School AU. Not much else to be said.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. prologue

**Author's Note:**

> hey yall! this is my first fic and i have no idea what im doing, plz be patient and all that jazz. here we go!   
> im gonna switch around between pov and like formatting i guess?? idk bear with me

Sophomore year was supposed to be easy. Fuck- _high school_ was supposed to be easy. I was supposed to be a fucking prodigy, a smart kid. I was supposed to breeze by through 13 years of public school without studying, get into an ivy league, get a scholarship, be famous and great in whatever I did with my life- but then I got the fucking worst semester in the history of my high school, I mean, are you kidding me? AP Chem and AP US History in the same semester? Without Honors Latin 4 it was fucking hard enough to keep my all A’s goody two shoes shit up, much less with it. And my only solace was Drawing 1 which turned out to actually be the most boring class ever. I was way too talented for this shit, and the teacher was old and ignorant in that old lady way that’s just kind of pitiful to watch, and no one in the class knows each other or ever wants to, so we’ve spent the past 74 fourth periods in uneasy silence itching for the final bell to ring. At least the teacher likes me enough to let anything I do slide; she has a high tolerance for kids that are actually good at drawing- art classes tend to be more or less a dumping ground for stoners and slackers who never sign up for classes in my testosterone-heavy, sports-focused school. But whatever, I’m not complaining. At least gym isn’t mandatory.

                All I know is I’ve got 10 (9 if you don’t count the current one) school days until its summer vacation and I can spend my days jacking off and jamming in the woods. But first- finals.

Speaking of which, my art teacher is handing me a giant stack of papers (study guides, she tells me) she wants me to pass out to the class while she goes to sort things out in the kiln room. Great- I managed 16 weeks of never socializing with this class of brain dead idiots and it was almost over.

                I do this weird trudging thing as I move between tables, tossing two per table at the person closest to me and not apologizing when the papers skid across the surface and fall on the other side of the floor four different times. It’s funny how you can spend 16 weeks in a class and never look at anyone in the face, not even when you get up to sharpen your pencils or go to the bathroom to smoke because your hands are shaking too bad to properly shade the apple you’re supposed to be drawing.  Walking around that classroom was like seeing everyone for the first time- which it probably was, and I wasn’t even taking care to even really look at any of them, I was feeling the whole class staring at me and just really wanted to sit down so I could stop feeling like a zoo exhibit.

                “I only need one.” I blinked and made eye contact with the last guy, and holy shit, this kid had a fucking pompadour in high school- was he trying to get beat up? I don’t know how I’d never noticed him before.

                “Wait, huh?” I asked, the kid staring back at me with a perplexed look on his face as he shook the papers in his hand.

                “Only need one. Table partner’s not here.” I nodded and took the extras back and hurried to my seat. Shit.

\--

_brendonurie followed you on instragram!_

I swiped the notification away to look at later, it was bedtime for Ryro.

_brendonurie liked your photo!_

_brendonurie liked your photo!_

_brendonurie liked your photo!_

_brendonurie liked your photo!_

_brendonurie liked your photo!_

_brendonurie liked your photo!_

_brendonurie liked your photo!_

_brendonurie liked your photo!_

_brendonurie liked your photo!_

I fumbled for my phone to turn the ringer off, but was sort of intrigued as to who this brendonurie character was. Just a quick peek and then I was going to sleep.

 _Oh._ Pompadour kid. Huh, I guess he found me. I followed him back, only spent a few minutes looking at his face, and then turned my ringer off, tried not to think of him liking all my photos, and managed to doze off only after I turned my stereo on low.

\--

I further explored pompadour kid’s instagram on the bus the next morning. Brendon was his name. He played guitar, I assumed, there were a few pictures of him in his room that I saw some acoustics hanging on the walls in the background.

                He was a sophomore, like me. He was cute, too, I guess. I mean, I lean more towards girls but he wasn’t hard to look at. There wasn’t a lot to gather from his profile, most pictures had at least 3 weeks between them and they all had emojis as captions. I learned he knew Patrick and Pete at least, they were in a group picture from the production of Legally Blonde last semester- Brendon was in the cast, some guy in a UPS outfit, and Pete and Pat were stage hand and in the live band, respectively. I never had bothered to see the play. Not one for those kind of things normally. I’d been recruited to design the logo, but that was as close as I had got to that, I’m not one of those theatre obsessed, flashy kind of queers. More lowkey.

                When the bus stopped at school I hurried off to go pry some information out of Pat and Pete before I had to head off to Chem. Only 9 more days after this one until I got some fresh air from this hell hole.  


	2. i

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tfw when the only way u can contact ur crush is instagram DM...

Okay. What I got from Pete and Pat was:

Brendon Urie. Newly 16, confirmed to be a sophomore like me. He’s really flamboyant, gay, played one of the male leads in Legally Blonde (which was a non-singing role, but apparently Brendon can sing really well), He’s really into music, but they’re not sure what genres. He does art. His family is Mormon (??).

                That’s all I gathered before the bell rang. I mean, it’s a start.

\--

                That day in art class Brendon wandered to my table towards the end of class, which I didn’t notice until he had to tap me on the shoulder because of my headphones.

                “Oh! Hey! Brendon! Sorry, music was too loud. What’s up?” I stammered, raking my hands through my hair nervously.

                “Oh, uh. Just got bored and all. Thought I’d come and like, talk I guess?” He sucked his bottom lip in between his teeth, looking like he regretted ever coming over here at all.

                “Oh. Sure!” I moved my backpack off the empty seat next to me to make room for him to sit down and shoved my papers and books aside.

                “What are you listening to?” He inquired, reaching over to take my phone and click the screen on, snickering when he read it. “Really? Isn’t Third Eye Blind kind of, I dunno, outdated?” I shrugged, snatching my phone back and sticking it in the front pocket of my backpack.

                “I like what I like, mister judgey-pants.” I retorted, blushing when I realized how completely idiotic I sounded, I mean, _mister judgey-pants_? _Really_ , Ryan? But Brendon just smiled and shrugged back.                

                “Guess you’re right.” The final bell ended our conversation and I quickly gathered my things.

                “Sorry, gotta catch the bus. My bus driver’s crazy and leaves as soon as she can. Can’t get left behind!”

                The image of him smiling back at me stuck in my brain for the rest of the day.

\-----

I may or may not have spent the entire day leading up to 4th period thinking about him- I mean he was cute and he did flirt with me (I think he was flirting the past few days? Maybe I’m overthinking it…) so it’s not like, creepy or anything. And our teacher told us that today we’d be going outside to sketch so I was hoping it would give me an opportunity to sit near Brendon and talk some more, but when I walked into the art room a few minutes late (Latin test took too long) he wasn’t there.

While the teacher herded us outside and to one of the courtyards I wondered where Brendon was. Maybe he was in the bathroom? Was he sick? Was he in detention? The possibilities were endless. And me, being stupid and awkward and annoying and weird, decided the best thing to do was to DM him on instagram.

I honestly can’t tell you why my brain thought this was a good idea, but for some reason I managed to take a picture of the sky, type “ur not here 2day )))))):” into the caption, and send it to instagram user brendonurie without punching myself in the face for being weird and overbearing. I know, shocking. How could one person be that weird? Well, here I am. Ryan Ross. In the flesh.

And as soon as I clicked send my heart dropped right past my stomach and into the deepest layer of hell, where it belongs. Who does that? What the fuck, Ryan.

And from that moment my eternal suffering started. Instagram does this great thing where it sends you a notification when someone reads your DM, so I spent the next 30 minutes multitasking by sweating, checking my phone every 2 seconds, and praying to god that he would smite me down for being such a moron. And, one may be asking, what happened after 30 minutes, Ryan? Aren’t your classes an hour and a half long? And, the answer is yes. My classes are an hour and a half long. So why would my suffering end after just 30 minutes? Well, firstly my suffering did not end, it just exponentially increased, and second of all, Brendon walked over to our class.

I had no notification that he read my DM, which meant that Brendon would open it whenever and then see that I, creepy stalker Ryan Ross, had sent him this message as soon as class started remarking on his absence, which makes me seen like the weirdest creepiest most obsessed human bean ever. Good going, ryro. Nice job. It’s a shame the earth didn’t open up and fucking swallow me whole when Brendon smiled at me and sat a few feet away and began sketching.

I just smiled back, turned my music up a few notches and tried to look really involved in my sketch of the football field. Then for some reason, decided to message him again.

“jk lol”

\----

                _brendonurie saw your picture!_

_Brendonurie commented on your picture: haha yea I was…._

Shit. Shit shit shit. It was 4:07 and I had already picked off all my fingernails and showered to pass the time because I was so nervous about Brendon thinking I was such a loser that I hadn’t even really thought much of the possibility of him actually responding. It took me at least a minute of shaking to get up the nerve to check the message.

**brendonurie**

haha yea I was at the dentist

**ryr0**

ew not fun

**brendonurie**

yeah ikr

do you have a kik?

**ryr0**

uhh yeah! its same as my instagram

 

 

 

_new kik message!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im thinking im gonna do short chapters but often? idk i start school back next monday so i promise whatever posting schedule i have this week will not continue past sunday haha. thanks for all the people who left comments and kudos already!!! i really appreciate it :D
> 
> also like side note??? im essentially turning ryden into like aesthetic egg children who only like weird lofi music and try to be punk sorry 
> 
> also what other bands/ships do yall want to see in this fic? im planning a side chapter with peterick OR petekey (havent decided yet) way down the road and am trying to figure out who else to introduce as part of ryan or brendons friend groups! thnx


	3. ii

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> first date? or something???

**ryan is bold**

brendon is regular

just to make things easier on me bc im lazy af

* * *

 

friday 5:01 pm

**hey! okay so you know that free concert downtown??**

**maybe? idk anyways i was wondering if you wanted to go ?? with me?? i can give you a ride and stuff**

5:07 pm

**i mean like. patrick and pete are going and they invited me and i dont wanna super third wheel and like, petes driving but patrick said pete could take us too**

ill have to ask my grandpa- im staying with him

**oh okay**

5:16 pm

**any news?**

um he says that he doesnt want me to like go out because its short notice and stuff idk 

sorry dude :(

**aw really??? r u sure?**

**u should like. plead. 4 me.**

**dont make me watch them be gross and make out pleassseee brendonnnn**

**its freeeeeee**

ugh hold up lemme ask again

**ok**

he said fine! 

**ok um i have to pick you up and then theyre gonna meet us at my house because my parents dont really know that petes dad isnt driving us and all that so im gonna come get you like. now. ill be there in like 15? depending on traffic**

oh

NOW now

okay 

im gonna like get ready and stuff text when youre here

**kay**

**driving- dont wanna die so dont text me, urie**

kay 

* * *

I pulled up to Brendon's house and sent him a text that I was there. I was trying really hard to be like, cool and debonair and all that shit and my car smelled gross and was full of my clothes and like, fast food and shit and the day before Brendon had mentioned he had OCD and washed his hands every 30 minutes if he could and thats why he didnt bring his phone to school because it was  _dirty_ there and I wasn't really sure whether that applied to my shitty car, so I just tossed all the shit from the passenger seat into the back of my 2002 Silver Honda Pilot and hoped he wouldn't gag as soon as he got in. Which he was doing right about the same time as my crisis was wrapping itself up. 

"Hey!" He smiled at me, and yeah, cliches and all, but I swear to God my heart melted into a fucking puddle at the bottom of my ribcage every time he so much as flashed his teeth in my direction.

"Hey!" I replied, more breathy and God, I hoped he didn't think I was like, swooning over him or anything so I just put the car back in drive and took off around the block, heading back to my house. 

"You uh. Like Weezer?" He asked, referring to the music coming softly out of my speakers. 

"Oh, yeah.  I mean, my phone's hooked up to the AUX which is that cord coming out of the tape deck thing and I just sort of plug in my phone and shuffle my spotify? Good ear though, this is one of my favorites." I stopped myself from rambling and watched him bob his head to the beat out of the corner of my eye. As I kept driving along Brendon started to sing softly.

"Only in dreeeeeaaammmssss, only in dreeeeaaamssss..." He tapped his fingers on the center console and I laughed a bit under my breath. It was kind of cute. 

As we turned the corner to enter into my neighborhood I knawed on my bottom lip for a second before smiling sheepishly at him. 

"Okay so, my dad's home and thinks that someone's parent is driving and not Pete so um, sorry but I need you to get out of my car and get into that silver one and I'm going to go around the corner to my house and sneak in the back door and hopefully he didn't see me sneak out earlier to get you and I'm going to pretend I'm leaving  _now_ and not earlier and also grab shoes because I managed to not bring those. Got it?" Brendon just stared at me for a second as he took it all in, then nodded and cautiously slid out of my car and trotted over to Petes black jeep, where he shot me a look for confirmation that yes, that was the right car, before getting in the back. I shot them a wave and turned down the next street and into my driveway.  _  
_

It was a quick ordeal; I snuck in the back and up the back staircase, then came around the front one and ran downstairs, grabbing my shoes on the way. I called out a "bye!" to my dad before heading out the front door and locking it behind me, then hopped into Pete's waiting car aroun the corner after a quick jog. 

* * *

"You are sUCH a dick, hand me the fuckin' aux. We're gonna get down to some fuckin Dragonforce if you guys know what's good for you!" I laughed, plugging my phone in and blasting Through The Fire and Flames as we sped, windows down on the highway as we headed towards the concert. I was really only trying to diffuse the awkwardness, I had sort of told Pete and Pat that I had a teeny crush on Brendon, which was met with a big deal of "aww, your first homo crush!" "he turned you" "how cute!" and the likes. And all four of us together were kind of awkward anyways, because Pete and Pat were so disgustingly into each other with the hand holding and the chaste kisses at stoplights and the way Pat was wearing Petes flannel and all. If that didn't make you wish you had a boyfriend, I don't know what would. 

So I just had to blast some old song everyone only knows from Guitar Hero to lighten the mood. Good thing we were almost at the venue. 

Our local Alt Rock station did a big free concert every spring- last year it was Silversun Pickups, this year was Cold War Kids. None of us really were into Cold War Kids, I mean their music was catchy and like, good, but I was more into weird lofi punk stuff and Pete and Pat liked to get fucked up at Punk shows and Brendon sort of liked everything that the three of us did, but it was more of a hangout thing than anything else. 

So Pete parked in the deck across the street and held Pat's hand as we entered the venue, a big outdoor amphitheatre with a huge lawn section in the back that we settled on because none of us felt up to the pit that day. 

And of course, by the second song of the first opener Pete and Pat had locked mouths next to us on the grass and I knew they weren't gonna leave their own little world till the whole show was over. So it was just me and Brendon. 

"Sooooo..." He said, raising an eyebrow at me. 

"I fuckin' told you, man. If you weren't here it'd just be me and the lovers over here" I pointed to Pete and Pat laying down a few feet away from us, "thanks for saving me, man." 

"Any time, dude" He laughed, threading his fingers through the grass around him and pulling up blades which he balanced on my denim-clad knee. 

"Oh, wow. Look at me, you're turning me into some kind of grass monster." I laughed, but let him do it, if anything for the way his fingers grazed my kneecap every time he tried to get more to stay on top of the pile. Brendon just laughed in return and kept going, seeming to get lost in his game as I laid on my back to watch the sun set. 

"I have a question." His voice pulled me from my dazed state as the first opener said their goodnights. I just hummed in response, turning my gaze to Brendon's face as he laid down on his stomach beside me. 

"Would you fuck the moon?" 

"Excuse me?" I asked, startled by such a weird question.

"I  _said,_ would you fuck the moon?" _  
_

"Why do you want to know?"

"You've been staring at it like you wanted to for the past half an hour, so I was just wondering." 

"Oh." I chuckled, and stared back at it, hanging low in the sky. "I mean, probably. They might make space suits where I could go up there one day and just like, stick my dick in a crater and go at it, ya know? Maybe I'll not only fuck the moon but marry it. My husband, the moon." I laughed and threw my arm over my eyes, not really knowing what I was saying at this point.

"Oh, Ryan Ross, that hurts. Right here." Both of Brendon's hands grasped at his chest where his heart is, and his face contorted in an expression I can only describe as completely and utterly crushed.

"Oh, Brendon Urie, and why is that?" I asked, continuing the joke.

"I thought  _we_ were married!" He exclaimed, throwing his hands up. "But apparently not. I mean, yesterday you said you were, and I quote, "irrevocably in love with Robert Pattinson" and now the moon? I'm starting to think that this marriage was only for tax benefits!" 

"Oh really, and if we are married, then where is my ring?" I countered, holding up my left hand devoid of rings as proof. 

Brendon looked around for a second before turning away from me and fiddling with something for at least a minute, punctuated with sharp whispers of "fuck!" and "shit!" 

"You okay there, champ?" I laughed, curious as to what Brendon was doing exactly, but really more enjoying playing along with our joke. 

Brendon turned back to face me suddenly, eyes lit up in genuine pride and accomplishment as he produced a ring made of a long piece of grass in his hands. He took my left hand and my heart jumped as he slid it on, then looked into my eyes and laughed after a long but comfortable moment. 

"There it is. My husband." I just laughed and laid back, turning my hand around to inspect the new addition. 

"I mean, I could've gone with a few more carats, but this'll do." Brendon just laid back beside me in response, him on his stomach, me on my back, and our heads turned to face each other. He grinned at me as the next band started.

* * *

"And, oh my gosh, he is so cute. And I don't really know why but we had this weird conversation about like, fucking the moon or something? And he gave me a ring made out of grass to commemorate our fake marriage and he held my hand on the way back to the car and he just. God, I mean. He makes me feel happy and he gets my weird humor more than either of you really do, sorry, but I just feel giddy and I really like him!" I grinned at Pat and Pete in the front seat where we were waiting for the gas tank to fill up. 

"Awww how cute. Little homo, just like us." Pat laughed and kissed Pete on the cheek, who ducked and blushed at the sudden display of affection. I grinned along with them; even though Pat had moved here just last year, he and I had become really close since then. I could see that Pat was really happy for me, and I was really happy for me too.

* * *

After dodging questions from my dads girlfriend who was cleaning up the kitchen after their late night drinking about how it all went I had managed to snag a quick shower and by the time I had gotten to my room my phone lit up with a notification. 

_new kik message!_

I quickly opened it, praying that it wasn't spam, and lo and behold-

i had a really great time tonight :)

 

I quickly settled into my bed and texted back, a grin breaking out onto my face.

**me too!!!**

**like, a ridiculously good time**

**im glad we finally actually had a conversation in art or else i would be friendless and sad :(**

haha same! i mean like, it might be weird or early to say this but..

i feel really good around you. like i can be myself

**me too!!! oh my gosh like. same honestly**

**i feel like you really get me, ya know?**

yeah i feel the same about you

**aw oh my gosh im like blushing stop it**

i dunno it sounds weird but i really liked talking and laying in the grass and stuff.

is it weird if i kinda wanna cuddle with you?

i mean, i dunno if youre into guys or anything but yeah 

sorry 

i didnt mean to be weird or anything

**no youre fine!!! i was just brushing my teeth omg dont worry**

**i reallllyy wanna cuddle with you too :)**

**and idk if im into guys in general but im really into you, i guess**

**idk**

ok

**ok**

i really like you, ryan ross

**i really like you too, brendon urie :)**

get some rest, kay? its like 2am and i kinda wanna hang out with you tomorrow :o

**kay <3**

night

 

I fell asleep that night with a grin on my face, rereading all our messages at least four times before I turned my lamp off. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, thanks for your continued support <3
> 
> did I just post two chapters in a day? who knows i kinda posted the other one and went back to sleep and i dont know what day it is. anyways. peterick? yea


	4. iii

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> basically ryan makes stupid desicions concerning school

**ryan**

brendon

_pete_

pat

* * *

 

School was ending, finally. I mean I still had finals. But after Tuesday and Wednesday I was through. I raced out the front doors to get to Pete's car, because he promised to take Pat and me home after school and I was so fucking done with this place. I had to dodge twelve crazy student drivers in order to get to his car on the far end of the parking lot, just barely avoiding getting hit. I was kind of glad that I had never been given a parking spot, honestly, so I didn't have to deal with this every day.

"Hey, Ry! Hurry up!" Pat laughed at me, head hanging out the open passenger side window. I made a show of walking slowly the rest of the way to the car, much to the frustration of both of them.

On the way to my house my phone buzzed with a kik message from Brendon, which I promptly opened-

hey! i know like finals start tomorrow and stuff and you probably have a lot of studying to do but like do you wanna hang today?

**umm lemme think about it okay? i mean i really want to but yeah, finals lol**

okay! no problem haha 

**would we just like go to your house and chill or something?**

yeah like theres a park near my house or whatever and we could just hang? im just hella bored tbh

**lemme ask my dad okay!**

cool

 

I sent a quick text to my dad that said I would be at Patrick's house studying that night and that I would text him when I was leaving. 

 

**hey! what time works?**

oh, uh, whenever i guess? my parents aren't home this week but like my grandpa is so i can literally stay out as late as i want so just like text whenever youre coming ya feel. you still have my address, right?

**yeah! cool**

 

I said goodbye to Pete and Pat as they dropped me at my house, and then ran inside and put my stuff down. I spent at least 10 minutes fixing my hair and outfit to a point where I looked good, but not like I was trying, then grabbed my keys and locked the door behind me. Once in the driver's seat, I sent a quick message to Bren that said I was coming and "not to text me back if you dont want me to crash and die, Urie" and then I was off.

* * *

"I feel bad that you're like, here, instead of studying. I know how much your grades and stuff mean to you." Brendon mumbled as we swung back and forth on swings in the park, his feet kicking into the mulch to indicate his frustration. 

"Oh, don't be. I reviewed in class the past three days and, anyways, I have this philosophy that's like if I didn't learn it in class this whole semester, how am I going to learn it in five hours the night before the final? I mean like, I totally could've not come over right now. Like I was completely able to not if I felt like I needed to study instead, but I made the decision to be here. Don't worry, Bren. I'm good." I gave him a soft smile and nudged his foot with mine. 

"Okay." He said simply, then cracked his knuckles as he stared up at the sky where the sun was setting. 

One of the things I liked about hanging out with Brendon is that our silences, even in their multitude and length, were never awkward. We never had to force conversation to make the situation seem comfortable, we never had to make small-talk to fill in spaces where our conversations lulled, we could just sit there and be around each other. It all felt so natural, like being around him was how I was supposed to be, how I was meant to exist. I never felt more comfortable than I did around Bren, which was strange, because we had just met. 

I liked it. I liked him.

I had never thought of myself as gay, really. I mean, sure, I thought boys were attractive, but I had never envisioned myself to be someone to date or be with another guy, I had always preferred girls. Bren was the first exception to that, the first guy I ever really liked.

 His voice broke my train of thought and I blushed, looking up at him.

"Huh?" I asked,  having not registered his words.

"I said, what are you thinking about?" He repeated, lips opening in a barely-there smile as he awaited my answer. 

"You." I replied, plainly, as if there was nothing wrong with my being deep in thought over the boy sitting next to me on the swings, nothing awkward about it.

"Me? What about me?" And now he was blushing, grinning at me as dangled on the swings, digging his toes into down into the mulch. 

"Oh, just how like." I felt like I was digging my own grave, but I wanted to say this. To him. Now. "Like, I dunno, I've always preferred girls and sort of thought of guys as like attractive but not in a way that I would ever like DO anything, ya know? And, I dunno, I guess you're like, the first guy that I think I've ever had like, a crush on?" I blushed and stared at my feet, stuck in this enigma of wanting him to say something back but also wanting this to never have happened. 

Suddenly his feet were next to mine. I looked over to my right and the swing he had been on before was empty, dangling in the air, and when I turned forwards I was eye level with his chest. Oh.

Then his hands here on my waist and he urged me up into a standing position, then snaked his arms around me and grinned, eyes lighting up with joy. 

"I like you, too." He said simply, and we just kind of stood there like that for a minute or two, taking each other and the situation in while the sun made its slow descension in the sky.

Bren was the first one to move. He ducked his head and rubbed the back of his neck, stepping back apologetically. 

"Sorry, that was weird." He mumbled, then turned away from me and closed his hands, then opened them, making fists and disassembling them over and over and over again while I just stood there like a complete moron. 

"No, um." I stuttered, standing there, and if he would just turn back around he would see, he would know, he would understand that I was there for him. I felt like I existed for him in that moment, and I wanted him to look at me but I had no idea what to do with my hands.  "Brendon- It's fine." I said softly, and he finally turned back around, still opening and closing his fingers erratically while he stared into my eyes, trying to figure out what to do.

"Bren, it's fine. I promise. You're fine. Don't worry." He just nodded and sat down in the mulch, pulling me down next to him.

"Is this okay?" He asked, snaking his fingers between mine, and I answered by leaning my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes giving a short little hum in response. His other arm wrapped wound my waist and we stayed like that until the sun disappeared below the trees, and then some.  

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey fam!!! i am home sick from school so i decided to update! sorry for this being like months after the last chapter school is KILLING me lol  
> they dont call junior year hell year for no reason :)


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